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The vision of Clearwire (CLWR) is definitely ambitious: to "give you faster Internet at home, at work and on the go, so that people everywhere will have the magic of the Internet with them all the time." This means building a sophisticated network across the country, which does not come cheap.
Tuesday, Clearwire announced yet another financing round, which comes to $1.56 billion. The investors include Sprint Nextel (S), Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Intel (INTC), Eagle River Holdings LLC, and Bright House Networks LLC.
Google (GOOG), which is an existing investor in Clearwire, did not participate in the round. Then again, it looks like this company is instead focusing on its dealings with Verizon (VZ).
Rather, the biggest contributor is Sprint, which has ponied up $1.18 billion. Basically, the company is desperately trying to find a way to differentiate itself from its rivals. Perhaps 4G services will be the solution?
While Clearwire has a strong technology approach, this may not be enough. Hey, the best technology does not always win.
For example, Clearwire has a fairly small footprint, including a handful of cities so far (such as Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia, etc). In fact, the current financing round may not be enough for the company to reach its goal of building a nationwide network.
Besides, Clearwire's efforts in customer acquisition have been uninspiring, with a base of about 511,000.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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